Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) Stock Price Expected to Rise, BMO Capital Markets Analyst Says

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) had its price objective hoisted by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from C$90.00 to C$92.00 in a report released on Thursday,BayStreet.CA reports. The firm presently has a “market perform” rating on the stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 0.16% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on GWO. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$95.00 to C$100.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. TD lifted their target price on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$98.00 to C$106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. National Bank Financial upped their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$93.00 to C$95.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$84.00 to C$107.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Great-West Lifeco from C$86.00 to C$87.00 in a research note on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$93.27.

Great-West Lifeco Price Performance

TSE GWO traded up C$1.42 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting C$91.85. The stock had a trading volume of 353,102 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,620,427. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of C$87.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$73.92. The company has a quick ratio of 22.18, a current ratio of 6.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 29.59. The company has a market cap of C$82.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.67. Great-West Lifeco has a 52-week low of C$51.60 and a 52-week high of C$93.69.

Great-West Lifeco (TSE:GWO) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The company reported C$1.42 earnings per share for the quarter. Great-West Lifeco had a return on equity of 15.17% and a net margin of 12.86%.The company had revenue of C$8.35 billion for the quarter. Equities analysts forecast that Great-West Lifeco will post 4.4525194 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Great-West Lifeco

In other news, Director Mei Dong sold 39,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$76.33, for a total transaction of C$3,007,402.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,721 shares in the company, valued at C$207,693.93. This trade represents a 93.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Also, insider Jean-Francois Poulin sold 20,000 shares of Great-West Lifeco stock in a transaction on Friday, June 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$89.55, for a total value of C$1,791,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 160 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$14,328. This represents a 99.21% decrease in their position. In the last three months, insiders sold 119,200 shares of company stock worth $9,821,888. Insiders own 70.70% of the company’s stock.

About Great-West Lifeco

Great-West Lifeco is one of the three big Canadian life insurance firms. With just under half of the firm’s profit and revenue in Canada, Great-West also operates in the U.S. and Europe. In Canada, Great-West provides both individual and group insurance. In the United States, Great-West operates Putnam Investments and defined-contribution recordkeeping firm Empower Retirement. In 2020, Great-West announced it would acquire Personal Capital and MassMutual’s recordkeeping business. In Europe, Great-West offers life insurance, annuities, and reinsurance primarily in the U.K., Ireland, and Germany.